At it's default difficulty, Dead in Vinland is a very challenging game, made up of many interconnected systems, each with the potential to create a fail state if not carefully managed. The combat is pretty simplistic and not as rewarding as simply keeping the characters alive day to day but in general, this is a game with a lot of depth. It's easy to die, and each replay becomes just a little less interesting, so I highly recommend playing through on the easy mode first.

Infect the world to save it from oblivion. That's a pretty unique premise behind this surprisingly innovative shooter, and it is a blast to play with your friends.

Eador: Masters of the Broken World has a lot going for it, but it buries a lot of its strong points under layers of monotony and frustration. It is a tough, but not impossible, game to recommend. If you are a hard core PC turn-based strategy junkie, your options or rather limited.

For being a flash animation that took three years to develop and then lose all other meaning behind it's saddening gameplay and all around lack of sheen Rocketbirds doesn't get a recommendation from me.

Mechanically, Warlords is a great addition to The Division 2. Conceptually, many of the issues that have plagued the game are still present and sometimes worse. But there’s no denying that The Division 2 is an incredibly competent shooter, and it feels even better to play with the changes made to the loot/gear system. On top of that, the loose story threads used to create the new endgame makes me actually want to participate in it. Warlords of New York provides the best entry point to date for new and returning players. I really enjoyed my time with it but make no mistake, if you didn’t like the core game, this is still The Division 2. But it is easily the best version of itself.

Other than some incommodious bugs and a lackluster story, Project Warlock on PS4 is a stylistic gem, with an incredible soundtrack, that pays homage to its predecessors while providing an extremely high skill ceiling.

Konami's leap into 3D for the acclaimed Castlevania franchise is backed by a generally solid gameplay and combat, albeit marred by extreme repetitiveness.

Winter is most definently coming, and for the Forresters, they had better hope that their family motto, Iron from Ice, hold true.

There is one thing to take into consideration, and that is the $19.99 price tag! Combine that with the solid gameplay and decent graphics, and any fan of the original should definitely go pick this game up.

Shadow Warrior won’t win any awards for complexity. It’s a shamelessly self-confident return to the whiplash, blood’n'guts symphony of 90s-era shooters, but it salvages the low concept, and it’s own checkered legacy, with ironclad mechanics and the likable, if oafish, story it tells.

Caveats aside, playing alone or with a friend in couch co-op, The Swords of Ditto is simple fun with enough depth to keep it interesting throughout.

For their first steps in the Dark Knight’s boots, they made one heck of an entrance.

Konami takes their DDR franchise to the next level, with the trademark solid dancing mechanics and downloadable songs on Xbox Live.

Droidscape Basilica is an impressive first outing for developer Kyttaro Games. It has its share of problems and pitfalls but overall it’s a solid iOS game that will suck up your time should you get hooked on it. While the its aesthetic appeal is a bit lacking Droidscape makes up for its shortcomings with unique gameplay and a fun combination of mechanics that, while odd at first glance, go together quite well in execution.

If you’re starved for another fun puzzle title, you can definitely do worse but there are more fully-featured, well-rounded puzzle games available on the Switch.

Armello has a lot of potential but the interesting bits never come to the forefront in any meaningful way, leading to a rather bland experience.

I felt like I started the game rushing through each level and making little to no progress at all. But by the end of my time with it I felt like I had learned the ins and outs of the game, despite a few deaths I didn’t feel I had earned.

Minecraft Dungeons is fun if a bit flawed and is one of those games best spent playing online with friends so you have something to do while shooting the shit with each other.

Jaws of Hakkon is a well-made addition to Dragon Age: Inquisitions. It provides a beautiful new location to explore, more loot to acquire and enemies to vanquish. But in the end, that’s it. There aren’t any truly meaningful additions here, no new gameplay elements or characters interactions. It is literally more of the same.

Episode 2 proved excellent all the way around. I really appreciated the points they chose to hit, the themes of friendship and change, as well as the fantastic trip the Admin takes the group on. I never thought that these kinds of stories would be possible with Minecraft as the background, but it just proves to show that a good story can take place anywhere. Even an exploding Heckmouth.

Overwhelm takes the action platformer genre to extremes. Despite its borderline unfair camera, players willing to accept the challenge have quite a tense journey ahead of them. It’s a game that controls exceptionally well in order to incentivize skilled play, while leaving enemy placement up to random number generation resulting in a compromise between the two. Due to the more unforgiving aspects, Overwhelm certainly appeals to the very niche audience that values challenge above all else.

While UnderHero provides a fantastical divergent critique of overdone narrative tropes that plague both classic and modern RPGs, the boring character/level design and steady reliance on conventional mechanical tropes prevent it from being a wholly transformative, reimagining of the genre.

Strategy buffs out there will not find much to Kessen III as the strategy in the game is quite limited.

If you like Game of Thrones, “The Lost Lords” is solid, and expected given the ebb and flow of the show it follows. If you don’t, on top of thanking you for bearing with this so far, I would advise you to watch the show first, and then go back to Episode 1.

This isn't a huge leap forward, it is more of a gracious step forward that offers enough to keep the game at status quo. This game doesn't reinvent the wheel, it just improves the wheel to last longer and perform better.

NBA Live 08 is just a much better all around game of basketball than last year's experience, and yet it's still not perfect.

In focusing on the cerebral side of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments manages to rise above its adventure game roots, presenting an excellent take on a classic character that, while propped on a foundation of less then interesting tropes, manages to feel fresh and captivating.

This is by far the best FPS on the Wii to date; the controls are very intuitive and responsive, and that really have driven the game into a very fun game to play.

As an action game, it’s streamlined and not terribly deep, but the labyrinthine tower itself is an inspired setting and the premise of the game and its excellent execution are fresh enough to fill in the gaps when the combat starts to disappoint.

During my play, I encountered a few dips in frame rate here and there. Aside from that, the game runs pretty well on the Switch, both docked and in a hand-held mode. The game also has extremely rough edges with PS1-era AI and uninspired level designs, which casual players will not easily forgive. When all is said and done, Aragami is a serviceable stealth game overall. Stealth/puzzle combo has its own merit and will appeal to hardcore stealth game fans for sure.

Though lacking in polish in some areas and simply outclassed by the NBA 2K series in others, NBA Live 19 seems to have finally carved the series a niche in the basketball game market. It’s less of an NBA game and more of a street basketball one, but if the modes that come out of this transition are this fun, what’s the problem?

Keep Killzone: Shadow Fall in mind if you’re looking for a multiplayer shooter that shows off what the system can actually do. If you’re one of those that are lacking the subscription to Playstation Plus, needed to access the multiplayer, then you will likely leave the game disappointed at a poor single player experience and you can do much, much better in the launch lineup than this.

There’s a comfortable progression of difficulty, with the game’s initial stages easy enough to understand and later stages that require a good deal of thought, planning and timing.

There’s little replay value, but for a few hours of joyous, moving and fulfilling entertainment for a mere three bucks, you couldn’t ask for anything more. Umiro is a neat little package that works perfectly within its limited set of rules and gameplay.

This high-octane actioner perfectly showcases the 360's graphical power, but is sadly hampered by its lack of depth and repetitive missions.

This is a title that finally brings new life to the console versions of The Sims, and if you're a fan of either The Sims, or just being deserted on a island, this is a game you need to check out.

A pleasant surprise. It doesn't re-invent the wheel per-say, but it does make for a very good and educational experience.

If you're a fan of the franchise or just WWII shooters I would still give a strong recommendation to check this game out.

Giving you a reason to come back to the wonderful world of Skyrim is what ultimately matters and at the end of the day, if you can stomach the cost, it will give you hours of fun and may spark your interest to carry on playing a simply fantastic base game.

There is no denying that even with its flaws, All-Pro Football 2K8 is a good solid football title that has some really interesting concepts.

Jotun: Valhalla Edition feels like the product of ambitious artists and sound designers who had a vision for their world and executed it nigh-flawlessly. Unfortunately, this simply serves to drive home just how mundane the gameplay is. In essence, Jotun as a video game feels more like a vehicle to deliver the artistic talents of its developers. Every element is passable, but the memorable moments all come from artistic achievements, not strong gameplay design.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a game I hadn't expected to enjoy as much as I did. Its shallow story failed to hook me, and its initial levels had me wondering if that is all there is to the game. However, the more I played, the deeper and more enriching its mechanics became, and the more I looked forward to each successive puzzle. While a bit unrefined and lacking a coat of polish, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a challenging and entertaining experience for those looking to kill a few hours on their Switch.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries offers a lot of content, but not all of it is interesting, accessible or fun and much feels like its in need of some streamlining in the cause of playability. There are moments of intense and impressive action to be found, but they are bundled with obtuse mechanics and bland storytelling. Playing Mercenaries can feel both like a chore and slow-mo thrill ride.

After playing Project Spark for an extended period of time, I must say I was disappointed. A game built around creation makes it frustratingly difficult to do so.

Despite its generic title, “Out of Time” is the best episode yet of Life Is Strange. It increases the complexity Max’s life and the power she commands.

Phantom Doctrine is a game that is not without merit, but if you decide to tackle it, then you should prepare yourself to endure that sort of love-hate relationship with it. And, if some of the game's issues, like the frustrating details of its stealth and its badly inadequate tutorial can be addressed, then it suddenly becomes an easy one to recommend.

I really liked the novelty Typoman: Revised. I can’t speak to any changes made to the game for its Xbox One debut because this was my first time playing it. Even though most of the word puzzles make me feel like I wasted my time as an undergrad, the challenge is unique and I enjoy seeing how the words interact with the word around my player character. Though the three chapter game can be easily finished in a day, the experience is a fascinating and entertaining one.

With its feet firmly planted in Assassin’s Creed Origins’ new open world direction, The Hidden Ones should satiate those in need of traversing more geographically interesting locations, completing quests, looting tombs, hunting down bandits, and going after those bloody Romans. More of the same all around, so your mileage of enjoyment may vary.

In a nutshell, Punch Club acted like a stamina-fueled boxer and wore me down. Over time I found myself loathing the training process I originally felt happy progressing in. What started as a fun progression from nobody to star became a tedious task of increasing numbers that may or may not affect the outcome of a fight.

One weird bug aside, this was a tremendous episode. Telltale’s creative use of Batlore was on full display with their low key use of his most famous villain, and they created an episode that managed to stand on its own while also leaving a jumping off point for the season finale. Guardian of Gotham delivers on all fronts.

Activision surprises us with a handheld game that offers even more content and features than its console counterparts. An absolute must for Gun fans on the move.

It’s great, then, that DC Universe Online is completely free to jump in and try for yourself with no strings attached. There’s enough base content to help make the call of whether or not to make this your de facto console MMO experience. After all, your mileage will vary. At the end of the day, though, the fact that you can play a fully-featured MMORPG on your portable Nintendo Switch is pretty damn amazing and could well be a harbinger of similar games being available in the future.

The combat balances its melee and ranged weapons, and the enemies offer enough unique challenges. It may not excel at the things Metroidvania games are generally known for, but Kunai is a fun action-platformer in its own right.

Lumo takes a simple premise and makes something that shines through the avalanche of similar games in its genre.

In the end, Mad Max’s ability to create a good time far outweighs any problems it has.

Titan Souls requires a great deal of patience and super fast reflexes to enjoy.

At the end of the day, whether you would enjoy Shio or not is largely dependent on your preferences. It's a stunning and understated game that offers rather difficult but enjoyable platforming experience and a very cryptic story for you to crack. If that is exactly what you're looking for, then Shio shouldn't be missed.

Overall, Dungeon Hearts is an excellent addition to the genre. Its combo of rpg and match play is really quite fun, especially if you don’t mind spending some time with it. While not the best for a quick pick up and play, there’s enough depth to keep it installed on my machine for a long time.

When the Past Was Around has beautiful art that I, also an illustrator, can really appreciate. However, the unfortunately jarring music and certain parts of the characterization fail to deliver the intended emotionality of the game. The story behind the sketchy, wordless narration is an important one but regrettably, the game doesn’t make it resonate in a way it matters.

It isn’t much of a problem for this game, but for future iterations, the developer will either have to get creative once again or give the series a big makeover.

Mom Hid my Game! is short, sweet, and delightful - a fun game to enjoy on little breaks between other games. It's quick to fire up and get into, and the puzzles are pretty fun, if not the most challenging things in the world. Even your failures are quick to bounce back from. It loses out a bit by repeating some of its challenges and at times not being sensible, but it's otherwise a fun and unusual puzzle game you owe it to yourself to try.

Wastelands is great because it marks a real turning point in the story and offers an ending that promises to seriously test the Diaz brother’s resolve.

Sure, it’s derivative and predictable too, but it’s there where the game gets its strong footing. Also, we need more protagonists like Richard. His imperfection makes him more realistic than typical squeaky-clean heroes who are never wrong and act always in an altruistic manner. True to European branch of fiction, State of Mind doesn't feel like underlining or sugarcoating matters. Either you get them or don't, and the game gives a damn if you don’t.

Including all unavoidable failures and retries, it only takes two hours to play Stela through. In that sense, the asking price of twenty bucks is a bit too steep. However, the game is well done and the gameplay focuses only on the essential as there’s nothing extra to distract you. There are plenty of similar games out here (Limbo, Inside and Little Nightmares to name a few) and despite somewhat unfortunately hollow emotional response, fans of the genre will find a competent puzzle-platformer in Stela. As of writing, no one has clocked the achievement for zero deaths during a playthrough so the game is a perfect challenge for die-hard completionists out there.

The leveling system, different classes, and questing are all really fun elements that make Fantasy Life a role-playing game worth checking out. But be ready for an uninteresting, wordy, and overbearing story that gets in the way of the fun that the title does offer.

Agetec continues this mildly popular franchise with the same turn-based RPG mechanics that we came to know and love/loathe.

The presentational pieces are there, and the controls tight, but when it comes to delivering a memorable set of tracks to underscore both the thematic and mechanical elements of the adventure, it doesn’t dig near deep enough. Without the joy of music to which the most successful games in the genre are conduits for, a lot of the effort and talent behind this charming game winds up feeling a little hollow.

If you shun DiRT Rally’s authenticity or F1 series’ almost tiresomely detailed race weekends and don’t mind the deficiency of online features, GRID is just about the best game you can get if you only fancy racing fast. It knows where it’s good at but at the same time, I still wish there was more character and challenge to it.

Unless you are a die hard fan, consider other cheaper, and most of all, better alternatives.

While I would have loved to see more new features and additional games like the oft-forgotten spinoff Mega Man and Bass, a package of four solid action platformers is enough to make Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 desirable to both fans and newcomers.

I really enjoyed Below the Bedrock and can’t wait to see how this season is going to close itself out. Telltale seems to have solved their pacing issue, and with the inclusion of the mystery element in finding Fred’s weapon, have added just enough outside of the general comedy to keep me invested. Will Jesse and crew be able to save Beacontown and defeat The Admin? We’ll find out with the next installment.

Cloudpunk is obviously a game made with great love and care. It shines through the visuals, the soundtrack, the city, and most especially the characters. Huxley, Camus, and Ben are easily some of the characters in any video game yet released in 2020. The gameplay is not particularly deep but it is solid and enjoyable in its relaxing way. While Cloudpunk does have a few minor faults (mainly the camera), none of them detract away from what is otherwise a wonderful experience. Get your multipass ready, it’s time to go for a ride.

If you're dying to get your hands on another point and click game, Hector works fine in a pinch, but you might want to find another (like Runaway: A Road Adventure or A Vampyre Story) or start dipping into the classics if you haven't already.

Although less flashy than the more reknowned DDR series, Pump it Up debuts with a fun selection of tunes, and the brilliant 5-button setup.

Like an action movie marathon, the busy energy of it can become wearying, but in most ways, Just Cause 3 is, quite literally, a blast.

While the allies mechanic isn’t technically new, this iteration borrows the best elements from some of the best Kirby games that came before it, forming an experience that remains entertaining throughout its short campaign. The only downside is that it costs as much as other Switch games that offer much more content. Nevertheless, Kirby Star Allies is a charming romp that is bound to make even the angriest puffballs smile.

Farming Simulator on the Switch doesn't add any new content or special modes or new machines that aren't included in versions on other systems, but it does competently bring a well-liked sim to the new generation of Nintendo handhelds and gives Switch owners another decent, full-featured game in the sim genre. This isn't Stardew Valley, another farming-heavy title ported to the Switch, but a tycoon game that spends as much time with facts and stats as it does behind the wheel of a tractor.

It's a very fun game but it requires an open mind.

Ashes of Ariandel offers a whole new bestiary of challenging creatures to murder, a beautiful, if haunting, world to explore, and a new story to figure out. Although the zone is built using a lot of familiar pieces, it evokes a rich sense of place. That’s the benefit of being separated from the rest of the game’s playable zones.

As it currently stands, The Escapists 2 isn't a bad game. Those able to overlook its flaws will find something wholly unique and immersive, and even those who aren't should find things to enjoy within the first several hours of gameplay. At the same time, however, it's painfully clear that a few more quality of life improvements would have made the game so much better. For those looking to become the next Andy Dufresne, The Escapists 2 will certainly whet your appetite. Unlike the movie, however, don't expect it to be smooth sailing.

With a cheeky narrator that doesn’t know when to be quiet, different stories that are told in brief, bite-sized chunks, and a fun and fluid combat system, Stories: The Path of Destinies is worth checking out even if its clearly lacking the amount of polish other games of this nature have.

As a ten dollar DLG, I can say that there's enough about Sideway that's unique and ably designed for it to do well, despite the Skyrims and Modern Warfares of this season.

For a short adventure that took around 5-6 hours to complete, it’s a refreshing change of pace from the grit and grime reality normally sought by today’s modern game. Planet collapsing tragedy aside, this adventure is not one in need of rescue.

Episode 3 wound up being a lot closer to what I feel is the ideal for an episode in this series – a fun, high-stakes adventure that throws in interesting elements of the license to create cool moments.

World to the West features an ambitious concept, incorporating multiple unique characters into a Zelda-like top-down adventure game. However, the game unnecessarily pads the playtime, requiring you to individually move each of the four characters. Still, each party member’s completely diverse playstyle almost makes up for it, shaping up the game’s strengths of core exploration and puzzle design. It’s not a perfect journey, but fans of the genre may want to consider taking a trip westward.

Fans of old-school, first-person dungeon crawlers will enjoy Vaporum for its homage to the older mechanics and restrictions that technical limits once placed on games. For the rest of us, Vaporum can feel like a cool concept and visual style straightjacketed by outmoded gameplay. Freed from the grid and with more standard camera and movement, Vaporum might seem more like a copycat game, but would be much more fun to play.

Sniper Elite V2 felt dated in 2012 and V2 Remastered definitely feels dated in 2019. The game is not terrible by any means, but it’s not particularly good either.

I was expecting a tower defense game because that is how it was described, but it was almost certainly more of an RTS that just focuses on the construction small towers. Some people could find fun in this game, but sadly I didn’t enjoy my time with Savage Moon too much or too often.

Soundtrack aside, LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is a comic fan’s absolute delight.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 is a not terrible time and a pretty good game. While the story is nothing to write home about, and the gameplay is beginning to feel more than a little played out at this point, you know, definitively, if you want to play this game or not just based on the title. After 12 years, a LEGO game is a LEGO game is a LEGO game.

In the end, Warhammer: Chaosbane is more about its satisfying gameplay than being an accurate and respectful representation of its franchise. Here, Warhammer is actually a mere coating to a competent Diablo clone rather than being an essence of it. In many ways, the game has budget title sentiments to it when it resorts to simple narration and recycling assets but still it’s sold for a full price. That’s a fact, in addition to the lackluster performance of the online game, that drops Warhammer: Chaosbane from an essential purchase it would definitely have been as a mid-price title. Wait for a sale and you’re probably happier with what you get.

Hybrid is decent, but not essential. The well-executed mechanics that make up the core gameplay are interesting for a little while, but how long it holds your interest for depends on how willing you are to look past the game's niggling problems.

Still, it’s hard not to see the missed potential within Banished. It’s an excellently crafted city building and survival game, made even more impressive by the fact that it was created by one man.

Despite the generic design of Eagle Flight’s story missions and the inability to reliably play online, it’s still a thrilling thing to experience in VR. It would be easier to write off were it a tradition, VR-free PlayStation game, but the immersion the headset offers makes it all the more fun and a good way to destress from the day.

If you like the song list and you like Singstar titles there is no reason why you should not pick up this game.

Demon Gaze II is a confounding experience, with enjoyable combat and a strong premise undercut by poor writing, inconsistent tone and graphics that really belong to a tiny screen. Hardcore fans of JRPGs that lie on the fringe of mainstream gaming might appreciate its quirky humor but for the rest of us, there are better RPGs to spend our limited time with.

Overall, Episode 3 feels like a middle episode. The story had some wonderful beats, with a beautiful middle section that blends Batman and Bruce’s problems together nicely, but it ends with a hard cut that practically begs for the next episode to start rather than providing a break in the action.

Overall, The Black Order is easy to pick up and play and there’s nothing to keep you from enjoying the thrill of fighting alongside pop culture’s most popular fictional heroes.